Visit Wales and the Welsh Government are carefully monitoring the ongoing situation with regards to the Corona Virus and will review and adjust planned activity according to the situation. Visitors are encouraged to check the latest travel and health advice available https://gov.wales/coronavirus-covid-19 and businesses are advised to visit Business Wales https://businesswales.gov.wales/news-and-blogs/news/coronavirus-acas-advice-employers-and-employees for the latest guidance for Welsh businesses.
 
Visit Britain are also running research to ensure they are capturing the impact of COVID-19 on tourism and Business Events in a consistent and comprehensive way, this questionnaire has been created  in survey monkey for businesses to complete.
 
The questions in the survey will help capture the impact on bookings, the wider economic impact and what insurance is covering as well as what Business Events are affected in the short and longer-term.
 
Please ask your tourism business members to fill in the survey by using the link below. Anything contributed will be treated as confidential - disclosures will not be attributable.
 
https://www.research.net/r/VBCOVID19 Please complete the survey by 17.00 Wednesday 11 March.

Airbnb held a roundtable event in Cardiff (28/02/2020) where hosts, local politicians, and stakeholder groups came together to consult on proposals for a clear, modern and simple registration system for short-term rentals. 

The meeting was held as part of Airbnb’s registration roadshow. The UK does not currently have a registration scheme for short-term lets, and some local authorities and politicians have stated that a registration system run by the Government is essential to managing home sharing effectively. 

Andrew Campbell, Wales Tourism Alliance Chair, stated, ‘Whilst the Wales Tourism Alliance provides in-principle support for an industry wide registration scheme, we want the scope of the proposals to aim toward creating a level playing field in relation to the regulation of Short Term Holiday Lets and ensure equal and fair opportunity to Markets for all tourism businesses. We welcome Airbnb’s early initiative in devising this Industry White Paper’.
​
Patrick Robinson, Director of Public Policy, at Airbnb, said: “We want to be good partners to cities and work together on a clear and simple host registration system that works for everyone and makes communities stronger. Airbnb has long led the way on home sharing rules in London. Now we want to work with cities across the UK on proposals that work for them too.”

Airbnb was the first platform to automatically restrict how often London hosts can share their homes to support the local 90-day hosting limit. It has also backed calls from the Mayor of London to introduce a registration system in the capital to ensure that these rules are applied fairly and equally to hosts on all platforms. Through the roadshow, Airbnb will continue this work and engage with major cities across the UK on these proposals. 

The UK Government’s Action Plan for Coronavirus has been published today (03/03/2020). 
​https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-action-plan

IIt provides useful information about the disease and the phased approach that the Government will implement if and when the disease becomes established in the UK. Essentially the three phases are:
 
Contain:

• detect early cases, follow up close contacts, and prevent the disease taking hold in this country for as long as is reasonably possible

 
Delay:

• slow the spread in the UK, if it does take hold, lowering the peak impact and pushing it away from the winter season

 
Mitigate:

• provide the best care possible for people who become ill, support hospitals to maintain essential services and ensure ongoing support for people ill in the community to minimise the overall impact of the disease on society, public services and on the economy.

 
These phases will be under pinned by ongoing research to better understand the virus and the actions that will lessen its effect on the UK population; innovate responses including diagnostics, drugs and vaccines; use the evidence to inform the development of the most effective models of care.While the measures being implemented currently span the Contain and Delay phases (ie., advice to wash hands) we are generally in the contain phase at the moment.

In the document, the actions that the Government will be take next are reasonably general, but it is worth noting that the next step in the Delay phase includes “Actions that would be considered could include population distancing strategies (such as school closures, encouraging greater home working, reducing the number of large scale gatherings) to slow the spread of the disease throughout the population, whilst ensuring the country’s ability to continue to run as normally as possible.” This will obviously directly impact some parts of the tourism industry.

​The EU and UK Govt have now both published their negotiation positions ahead of the Trade Deal talks. Of note for the tourism industry in the UK Government’s outline of their approach to negotiations are:

• Chapter 10: Temporary Entry and Stay for Business Purposes (which should cover posted workers)
• Chapter 12: Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications
• Chapter 19: International Road Transport (which covers passenger transport as well as the transport of goods).

It is also proposed that there should be a Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement and a Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement to minimise regulatory barriers for the aviation and aerospace industry. An Agreement on Mobility and Social Security Coordination which would include reciprocal health care arrangements for tourists. Full document here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/our-approach-to-the-future-relationship-with-the-eu

The provisional IPS figures for November and December 2019 for the UK show:-

-There were 2.9 million visits to the UK by overseas residents in November 2019 (1% fewer than in November 2018) and 3.2 million visits in December 2019 (12% more than in December 2018).

-Overseas residents spent £1.9 billion on visits to the UK in November 2019 (21% more than in November 2018) and £2.3 billion on visits in December 2019 (38% more than December 2018).

-UK residents made 4.4 million visits overseas in November 2019 (5% more than in November 2018) and 3.9 million visits in December 2019 (4% more than in December 2018).

-UK residents spent £3.1 billion on visits overseas in November 2019 (21% more than in November 2018) and £2.4 billion on visits overseas in December 2019 (4% more than in December 2018).

These are again very large variations year on year.
​

TIER’s Coronavirus update from 26th February 2020 which contains useful information including a WHO/UNWTO statement on coronavirus and tourism.
 
UK picture

• As of 09:00 26 February, a total of 7,132 people have been tested in the UK, 7,119 have been confirmed negative. Four further patients have tested positive bringing the total to 13. The virus was passed on in the Diamond Princess cruise ship and the patients have been transferred to specialist NHS infection centres.
• Globally as of 26 February at 10.00am there are 81,050 cases of which 78,064 are in China, 1,146 are in the Republic of Korea and 322 are in Italy. The fatalities to date are 2,768 (of which the following are outside China: Hong Kong SAR (2), Iran (15), Cases on Diamond Princess Cruise ship (4), Italy (10), Japan (1), Taiwan (1), France (1), Philippines (1) Republic of Korea (11)). 
• British Airways is continuing to operate to and from Italy and they are continuing to monitor the situation closely. They have introduced flexible rebooking options for customers booked to travel to/from to travel between London and the Northern Italian destinations including, Milan (Linate and Malpensa), Turin, Bologna, Venice, Bergamo and Verona up to 2 March 2020. Customers can rebook to a later travel date up to 31 March 2020.
• easyJet and Ryanair flights are still operating as normal.

​Foreign and Commonwealth Office advice for outbound travel
·         The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) is still advising against all travel to Hubei Province and against all but essential travel to the rest of mainland China
·         The FCO is also advising against all but essential travel to:
o    the cities of Daegu and Cheongdo in South Korea
o    ten small towns in the Lombardy region and one in the Veneto region of Italy

The FCO is not advising against travel to any other country/territory as a result of coronavirus risks.  Other travel measures, advice and updates: 

• The World Health Organisation and UNWTO have issued a joint statement on tourism and COVID-19 calling for coordination. The key points are:
  • Tourism’s response needs to be measured and consistent, proportionate to the public health threat and based on local risk assessment, involving every part of the tourism value chain – public bodies, private companies and tourists, in line with WHO’s overall guidance and recommendations.
  • UNWTO and WHO stand ready to work closely with all those communities and countries affected by the current health emergency, to build for a better and more resilient future. Travel restrictions going beyond these may cause unnecessary interference with international traffic, including negative repercussions on the tourism sector.

 
ITB updates

• On 26 February the organisers of ITB Berlin announced that on the advice of German public health authorities all exhibitors at ITB Berlin will be required to fill out a declaration form. The declaration form is a condition for access to the exhibition grounds and serves to identify persons belonging to a COVID 19 risk group.
• They have also said “This is a precautionary measure in order to protect those participating in ITB Berlin and the public in general. The Federal Ministry of Health and the Robert Koch Institute have assessed that the health risk in Germany remains low. “

 
Practical advice and guidance

• The World Health Organisation has issued advice to the public ‘If you are not in an area where COVID-19 is spreading, or if you have not travelled from one of those areas or have not been in close contact with someone who has and is feeling unwell, your chances of getting it are currently low.’

 
In the meantime you can visit the VB website where they continue to share advice for businesses and links to key updates and information.

The UK Government’s Point’s based Immigration paper has been launched (click the link to download a copy). A new system will require people wanting to work in the UK to achieve a total of 70 points or more. The allocation of points being as follows:
 
Mandatory Requirements

• Offer of job by approved sponsor                                                             20 Points
• Job at appropriate skill level                                                                        20 Points
• Speaks English at required level                                                                 10 Points

 
Salary Requirements

• Salary of £20,480 (minimum) – £23,039                                                     0   Points
• Salary of £23,040 – £25,599                                                                         10 Points
• Salary of £25,600 or above                                                                           20 Points

 
Addition Points Available

• Job in a shortage occupation (as designated by the MAC)               20 Points
• Education qualification: PhD in subject relevant to the job             10 Points
• Education qualification: PhD in relevant STEM subject                     20 Points

 
 
There are also a number of other changes to immigration requirements that are important to know about. These include:

• The skills threshold has been reduced from RQF6 to RQF3 (ie., from degree level to A level)
• The cap on skilled workers has been “suspended”
• The resident labour market test has been removed which should simplify the process for businesses
• MAC will be commissioned to produce a shortage occupation list covering all jobs encompassed by the skilled worker route and to keep the list under regular review
• MAC will determine where there are sector shortages and allocate the additional 20 points for temporary periods.
• Skilled workers will be able to be accompanied by their dependants.
• The Home Office will consider adding further flexibility into the system including additional attributes that can be ‘traded’ against a lower salary such as greater range of qualification levels or other factors such as age or experience studying in the UK
• The Youth Mobility Scheme will be retained, but not expanded
• Students will also be covered by the points-based system and will achieve the required points if they can demonstrate that they have an offer from an approved educational institution, speak English and are able to support themselves during their studies in the UK.
• EU citizens will be able to continue to use e-gates, but the Govt will keep this policy under review
• For employers sponsoring skilled migrants, the process will be streamlined to reduce the time it takes to bring a migrant into the UK by up to eight weeks.
• The Govt plans to have the application system up and running by Autumn 2020, so that migrants can start to apply ahead the system taking effect in January 2021
• The Govt will set out detail on phasing out the ability of EU nationals to use of national ID cards to enter the UK shortly.


• ​This announcement is just the policy paper and that the Home Office will be publishing further detail on the points-based system

including detailed guidance regarding the points tables, shortage occupations and qualifications over the coming months.

Over the last 12 months the Destination Pembrokeshire Partnership (DPP) – comprising Pembrokeshire Tourism, Pembrokeshire County Council, PLANED and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority (PCNPA) – have been working closely together to produce two key pieces of work to drive tourism growth in the County.

The first is a new five-year Tourism Strategy known as a Destination Management Plan (DMP). Feedback from the trade and other partners through online questionnaires, face-to-face consultations and workshops have helped form the new DMP.The new plan will run from 2020 to 2025 and will cover the priorities and aspirations for Pembrokeshire as a tourism destination.

The second is an exercise looking at whether some tourism services could be managed more effectively by operating in a different way, with the aim of supporting the multi-million-pound tourism industry.  Currently, a wide range of services are delivered by the Destination Pembrokeshire Partnership with each of the partners focusing on different areas of activity.

On Wednesday, 5th February, and Monday, 10th February, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority and Pembrokeshire County Council respectively approved both the DMP strategy and the proposal for a new Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO). The resources and staff from the County Council’s Tourism (Destination Marketing) department will be transferred to Pembrokeshire Tourism, the county’s tourism trade organisation, with support and resources also coming from PCNPA and PLANED.

The new Pembrokeshire Tourism organisation will be led by the trade and will be able to deliver a wider range of activities including: destination marketing activity; campaign and project delivery; industry liaison and support; research and intelligence; advocacy, and other activities such as supporting and potentially delivering some events. 

Jane Rees-Baynes, chair of Pembrokeshire Tourism said: “We at Pembrokeshire Tourism are delighted that the proposals have been approved by all DPP partners. We believe this is an exciting new start for tourism in Pembrokeshire. We will be working hard over the next few months to establish this new trade led organisation as one of the leading DMOs in the UK. Our members will continue to receive the same great benefits through the transition and can look forward to an enhanced offering once the new organisation is in full operation.”

Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Economy, Tourism, Leisure and Culture, Paul Miller, said: “Far better than numerous, disparate entities working to support tourism in isolation, we will now have a single, joint plan together with a strong, well resourced, trade led organisation driving the Pembrokeshire 'destination'. It’s an exciting opportunity for the County to further develop our incredible tourism offer and to ensure Pembrokeshire is discovered by even more visitors from right across the globe.”

Iwan Thomas, Chief Executive, PLANED, said: “The delivery of this new strategy clearly demonstrates the commitment to partnership working here by these key organisations within Pembrokeshire. PLANED’s role has been to support the voice particularly of communities within the county, and the importance of the tourism and hospitality sector to those communities. With this new and exciting approach, we will continue to support our partners and the industry, to promote the alignment of communities to this key economic driver for Pembrokeshire, and the further opportunities this now presents.”

The Chairman of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, Councillor Paul Harries said: “We are very pleased to support the creation of the new organisation aimed at improving the county’s tourism offering to enhance our reputation as a leading accessible and sustainable tourism destination.We look forward to working with partner bodies and the tourism trade to further develop work in this area.”
​
The new DMP will be formally launched at the Pembrokeshire Tourism Summit at Rhosygilwen on the 26th February. Contact the Pembrokeshire Tourism office on 01646 622228 to book tickets. 
​